Weddingbee Blog

From reading what people have to say on Xanga and Weddingbee, I’ve noticed that we all seem to have a different idea of our attendants’ level of involvement. I’m sure we all have our own reasons as to why to involve or not involve them, and I think it’s really interesting.

Mr. Blueberry and I are having one attendant each to stand at the front of the ceremony, but two of my dearest friends will be “honorary attendants” receiving mention in the program, and Mr. Blueberry may do the same.

I haven’t talked about my MOH and Mr. Blueberry’s BM much not because they’re not important–to the contrary!–but because we haven’t (so far) requested them to take a really active role in the wedding planning. Maybe it’s because I’m anal, maybe it’s because I don’t want to occupy them with something I view as our “problem” (though of course it’s not that), but so far the only request I’ve made is that they each show up and look nice and have fun.

But I’ve noticed some Xangans and Weddingbees rely on their attendants for help with the daily tasks of wedding planning, and I think that’s great, too.

How involved are your BM’s or GM’s in the wedding planning?

I bought Mr. BOP these circle* monogrammed locket cufflinks to give him on our wedding day. Crappy thing is that I bought them full price. Crappier thing is that when I asked him what he’d like to give his groomsmen as gifts, guess what the first thing out of his mouth was?! Monogrammed freakin’ cufflinks!

So I told him I’d search out some decent priced ones, secretly hoping to divert him from finding these on his own. Well, I checked out Limoges Jewelry where I had purchased his months ago only to find out they are on SALE.

I figured the groomsmen may as well get the nice locket ones, since they’re cheaper than all the non-locket ones I had found elsewhere.

Sterling Silver Monogrammed locket cufflinks -
$44.99 (were $69.99)

Sterling Silver Regular monogrammed cufflinks -
$29.99 (were $39.99)

*Yeh, they don’t make this shape anymore

These cheesy wedding party cufflinks are on sale!

Jokes aside, I think cufflinks would make great gifts for your GMs. It is an accessory that every guy can use - some more than others - but even for a techie like Mr. Violet who never needs to dress up for work, having a nice pair of cufflinks in his wardrobe is a staple indeed.

This pair is simple and it’s made of titanium. Engravable too. Not bad for $95 buckeroos.

Not sure if these are masculine enough for some of the men in our lives, but I really like these and they’re quite affordable at $45.

$75 $50 $75

And of course, this would be a great gift for your Future Husband..

$150 $125 $225

And these are just adorable!!!

Hi wedding bees,

My fiance and I are currently searching high and low for unique groomsmen’s gifts… all four of his groomsmen are completely different from each other - with different interests/occupations/lifestyles/etc. In the process of searching, I found this really cool product idea and I thought perhaps some of your readers might be interested… I think in the future I may be purchasing these for my brothers and my dad, as christmas/birthday gifts.

Basically, this guy, Richard Hamlet invented the “stay tux” technology and applied it to shirts that never get un-tucked. Something about the fibers cause the shirts to re-tuck themselves every time you move. Cool, eh?

If you go on the Richard Adams website, they very cleverly came up with a pre-paid gift set, which is a dress shirt and tie. You purchase it (with free shipping and no sales tax), and your gift receiver will get to submit their own sizes, etc, and receive the gift directly from them. I thought this was as brilliant marketing idea.

Anyways, just thought I’d share the wealth of info.

cheers!

-peachy

This weekend Mr. Spider and I went to Mens Wearhouse to organize our wedding party tuxedo package. We were in and out in less than an hour. *Sigh, if only everything else was this easy. I mean seriously, it was all so idiot-proof. Figures that things involving the groom are easy as pie.

Mens Wearhouse offers a few promotional specials and the one that works best for us is:

Grooms Tuxes are always FREE with four paid rental packages.

The tuxedos run from $69.99 to $149.99 and include: jacket, pants, shirt, tie, vest, suspenders, cuff links and shoes. That’s right, the whole kit and caboodle. Sorry guys, gotta wear your own socks and underwear. (Which begs the question, which is worse? Stores who rent out socks and underwear with tux packages or the guys actually willing to rent them. If it were an option, I’m sure SOME guy out there would do it.)

The tux selection begins with the jacket and more specifically, with the number of buttons. When asked what type of look he liked to go with, Mr. Spider said, “British.” haha.

One-Button

A one-button jacket gives a formal and traditional look but may not work for bigger builds as the one button may give a strained look. Note how much of the vest is visible.

Two-Button

You can’t go wrong with a two-button jacket. It gives medium exposure of the vest and is flattering on all body types.

Three-Button

The three-button jacket produces a more modern and slimming look. Since it buttons up higher, less of the vest is visible. The three-button jacket may be troublesome for men on the bigger or shorter side as it elongates the torso (at the expense of the legs) and is generally a tighter fit.

Next comes the vest and tie, which is the fun part as it actually involves color. Mr. Spider was disappointed that all the ties are clip-ons. I was relieved - anything that saves time, saves sanity. Vest and tie styles really run the gamut but of course I was drawn to the PINK ones haha (hope the groomsmen don’t mind).

Tie and Vest

Ascot and Vest

Bowtie and Cumberbund

Then comes the shirt.

Point collar; pleated or no pleats

Wing tip collar; pleated or no pleats

The rest are small details that the guys can choose as they please.

To end, here is the timeline, Mens Warehouse gave us:

• To book: one month in advance
• To be fitted (at any location): at least two weeks in advance
• To pick up: two days before the wedding

I love how Miss Violet asked her friends to be her bridesmaids.

Her bridesmaids were just as surprised as my groomsmen! But I didn’t have a clever plan to ask them… I just sorta mentioned it casually and treated it like no big deal. I just assumed that they would know! I mean, I only have a few close friends… if not them, then who???

But when I asked my two groomsmen, they were both genuinely surprised and excited! I was really touched, and in retrospect - I really regret not making more of a big deal out of asking them to be in my wedding party.

So for any grooms out there reading this: this is the #1 thing that I wish I had done. Forget the groomsmen gifts after the wedding (I mean, groomsmen gifts are definitely something that a girl invented). Definitely make a big deal out of asking your boys to be in your wedding.

If I could do it again, I would buy a cigar or a bottle of port and hand it to my friend over dinner… and say, I hope we can smoke/drink this at my wedding - and I’d be honored if you would be there as my groomsmen. Then after he accepted, we would stand up and give each other the traditional guy hug (a one second hug comprised of a right-handed handshake followed by some left-handed slaps on the back) - then there’d be an awkward pause, and we’d sit back down.

Then we wouldn’t talk about it again, until it was time for the tuxedo fitting. Damn, I definitely dropped the ball on this one…

The last time I wrote about the groomsmen’s gifts idea that Mr. Butterfly came up with, I got a lot of comments saying that the business cards were a bit…useless. Granted, the groomsmen and ushers will have absolutely no reason to use these after the wedding. In fact, I don’t expect them to use them during the wedding either. The whole point was that we wanted to get them something nice, but inexpensive, as part of their groomsmen’s gift bags. We really liked the idea of a business card holder, and the cards are just a “filler” for fun.

Anyway, the cards came in last night and they look fantastic! I’m so glad that none of the groomsmen and ushers read this site because it would ruin the surprise.

Of course, both of my bridesmaids read this site, so I don’t think I can post about the bridesmaid gifts until after the wedding. Sorry girls!